


Black

by AlmondRose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/M, Flying with someone is a big deal, Harry is Confused, Wingfic, dating someone special, it means you're really close friends or dating, you can hide your wings under your spine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 02:58:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6177469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter gets black wings on his tenth birthday.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone knows the only colors are white, grey, or red</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black

On Harry Potter’s tenth birthday, he grew his wings. He stared at the big black things in the mirror. He had never heard of black wings before. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon’s were white. Dudley’s were mostly white, but slightly grey. The only other color Harry had heard of was red. He debated asking his aunt, who was the only one home, if it was entirely uncommon to have black wings. He decided against it and hid his wings along his spine.

  
\------

  
When the school year started back up, Harry went to the school library to look at wing books. He couldn’t find anything about black wings.

  
“Excuse me,” he asked. The girl shelving books looked back at him. When she saw who he was--Dudley Dursley’s favorite punching bag--she paled visibly. Nobody wanted to be seen talking to him. The girl swallowed.

  
“Yes?” she asked.

  
“What are all the wing colors, and what do they mean?” he asked.

  
“Um, white is the most common,” she said. “Most people have white wings.” Her own white wings fluttered slightly as she said this. “Grey is another color. Most people with grey wings have something happen to them. Not many people have grey wings.” She paused and Harry wondered if they were both thinking about Dudley. “And then there’s red. Red means you’ll go crazy at some point in your life.”

  
“And nobody has any other color?” Harry asked. “Like black?” She shook her head.

  
“No,” she said. “Just those three.”

  
\--------------

  
Harry turned eleven and thought he had the explanation. Black wings must mean magic. He didn’t let his wings out, though, just in case. When he got to Diagon Alley, he was glad for his decision. Everybody there had white or grey wings.

  
\--------------

  
“Hagrid, what do black wings mean?” Hagrid instantly looked alarmed.

  
“Who told you ‘bout them?” he asked.

  
“I just heard it on the street,” Harry said quickly. “I was just curious, that’s all.” Hagrid fidgeted.

  
“It’s said that You-Know-Who had them,” he said after a minute. “Tha’s all I know.”

  
Harry felt sick. He had the same wings as the man who killed his parents?

  
\------------

  
Ron Weasley had big grey wings. Hermione Granger’s were more white than grey, but neither of them had black wings.

  
\--------

  
Out of spite, Harry hoped that Snape had black wings. Snape kept his wings under his skin like Harry did. One day, Harry saw Snape’s wings. They were white.

  
\--------------

  
Harry was excited when he flew on a broom. He’d never flown before. When he heard about Quidditch, he was nervous momentarily because he thought maybe he’d have to use his wings.

  
“We keep our wings under,” Oliver Wood told Harry. “Gives it more competition.”

  
“Unless you fall off your broom,” George Weasley.

  
“Then fly away and save yourself,” Fred advised him.

\------------

  
When Harry got his invisibility cloak, the first thing he did was wear it to finally use his wings to fly.

  
\-------------

  
Harry looked up at the tiny winged keys flying around the room. There were no brooms.

  
“What do we do?” he asked.

  
“Isn’t it obvious?” Hermione responded. “We fly.” Harry looked at them. Both of their wings were out and poised to fly.

  
“Get your wings out,” Ron said. “What are you waiting for?” Harry took a deep breath and decided he trusted them. They were his best friends. He let his wings out. Hermione’s breath caught in her throat and Ron looked confused. “Wings can be black?” he asked after a minute.

  
“Oh, Ron,” Hermione said, shaking her head.

  
“What?”

  
“They say Vol--sorry--You-Know-Who had black wings,” Harry explained.

  
“So?” Ron asked.

  
“So it might mean I’ll go bad or something!”

  
“You’re the same person you always were,” Hermione said.

  
“I like your wings, personally,” Ron said. Harry’s heart warmed.

  
\-----------------

  
Harry burst through the doors and saw not Snape, but Quirrell. Quirrell’s wings were out--for the first time, Harry realized--and they were black.

  
\-------------

  
Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey saw his wings, which were out when he passed out after facing Voldemort. Harry asked Dumbledore what they meant, and Dumbledore said he’d explain when he was older.

\------------

  
Ron and Hermione didn’t write to him. Harry wondered if it was because of his wings.

  
\----------

  
Ron rescued him and Harry was so relieved, he could cry.

  
\-------------

  
Everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin. Harry wondered if they were right. Maybe that was why his wings were black.

  
\-----------

  
Gilderoy Lockhart revealed his wings after he cursed himself. They were not white, as everyone speculated and as a few of his books suggested. They were red.

  
\------------

  
In the memory, Tom Riddle did not show his wings. In the Chamber, he had black wings.

  
\------------

  
Dumbledore _still_ didn’t tell him what black wings meant.

  
\-----------

  
Lupin didn’t show his wings until right before he turned into a werewolf. His wings were red. It was because the wolf was crazy, Hermione said.

  
\-----------

  
They cut off your wings at Azkaban. Sirius told Harry his wings used to be grey. Harry didn’t tell Sirius about his wings. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t.

  
\--------------------

  
Hermione and later Ron took him to empty classrooms to practice flying. Both of them were convinced he’d need the skill for the Triwizard Tournament. Then the rule of no using wings was announced. Harry was relived.

  
\---------------

  
Voldemort _did_ have black wings, as it turned out.

  
\----------

  
Professor Moody’s wings melted away with the Polyjuice Potion. Barty Crouch Jr didn’t have wings. Dumbledore told him that his wings used to be red. The dementors kissed him and Harry understood why.

  
\-------------

  
Fred handed Harry an Extendable Ear. He listened in and heard Mrs. Weasley’s voice.

  
“...ever seen them?”

  
“Nobody has,” Sirius said. “It’s fine.”

  
“Dumbledore that Harry was insecure about them,” Mrs. Weasley fretted. “Do you think they were ruined in the graveyard?” Harry’s stomach rolled and he knew what they were talking about.

  
“Ginny never shows her wings,” Sirius pointed out. “You don’t fret about her. Remus either, for that matter.”

  
“I know about Remus’s wings!” Mrs. Weasley hissed. “And Ginny…” Harry took out the Extendable Ear. Fred, George, and Ron looked at him, eyes wide.

  
“ _Are_ you insecure?” Fred asked. Harry shrugged.

  
“Have you seen them?” George asked Ron, who nodded slowly.

  
“Thought you might’ve,” Fred muttered.

  
\-----------

  
Neville’s mother came out behind him. Her red wings shone in the dim hospital light. Harry knew that Frank Longbottom had similar wings. He wished he would stop encountering people with red wings.

  
\------------------

  
Cho Chang had white wings. Harry liked to watch her from across the Great Hall. He loved the way her dark hair stood out against the white wings. Then he kissed her, and they were dating, and she wanted to go flying with him. He was really tempted, he was, but he said no. Later he wondered if that was a factor in their failing relationship.

  
\-----------

  
Luna “Loony” Lovegood had the brightest white and biggest wings Harry had ever seen, and yet when Neville said they should fly to the Ministry, Luna suggested they take thestrals instead. Harry jumped at the chance. Ron asked if he could fly himself. Ginny couldn’t see thestrals, but she had set her jaw determinedly and climbed up by Luna’s instructions. In the end, Harry, Neville, Luna, and Ginny took the thestrals. Hermione didn’t trust anything (brooms, hippogriffs, thestrals) besides her own wings. Ron didn’t want to fly on something he couldn’t see.

  
\--------------

  
Dumbledore and Voldemort fought, their wings flying behind them, white and black, dark and light, evil and good, Order of the Phoenix and Death Eaters.

  
\--------------------

  
Dumbledore explained the color of Harry’s wings calmly in an office with shattered things on the floor. Black meant that there was something in your soul, he said. It was because of his possession by Voldemort. Quirrell’s was because he had held Voldemort in his mind. Voldemort’s was because he possessed Harry. Harry wasn’t sure if he believed the latter.

  
\-----------

  
Grey wings mean something minor happened to your soul. Dudley’s were grey because of the Dementor encounter. Harry was scared for Ron and Hermione.

  
\----------

  
Harry liked to watch Ginny. He liked the way her hair moved and the way she smelled and the way she smiled. He pictured her with big white wings that she hid because she liked brooms better. He hoped beyond hope they weren’t red.

  
\-----------

  
Harry kissed her after the Quidditch cup. They were dating, and they talked about everything. Everything except wings.

  
\--------------

  
Harry learned about Horcruxes and Dumbledore told him that that was why Voldemort had black wings. Damage to the soul.

  
\--------

  
Dumbledore was dead, and the red tint to Bill’s wings made sense, and Mrs Weasley and Fleur were crying on each other, and Lupin explained to Tonks why they couldn’t be together, because of his red wings, and she cried that she didn’t care. Lupin’s words resonated with Harry, and he looked over at Ginny.

  
\-----------

  
He told her it was because he didn’t want her to get killed. He wondered if she heard the unspoken, _My wings, Ginny, they mean I’m doomed._ She said nothing about the words unsaid, possibly because she didn’t know what color his wings were.

  
\---------------

  
Mad-Eye proposed the plan of seven Harrys. Harry gave one condition.  
“Keep your wings in under your spines and don’t look at them.” Everyone agreed, Ron and Hermione a little more solemnly. When everyone got back to the Burrow, Ron told him quietly he’d had to fly. He also said that it was dark, and Tonks was preoccupied at the time, and he didn’t think any Death Eaters saw. Harry told him that Voldemort already knew.

  
\--------------

  
They got the locket and Ron was moody and angry. Hermione told Harry that this is probably why his wings were grey. Harry was relieved that this was the worst that will happen to him.

  
\--------------

  
Harry followed the silver doe and looked around for the person who cast it. He saw a flash of white wings, but then Ron pulled him out of the pond and Harry decided that he was seeing things.

  
\-----------

  
At the battle, Harry went to the Shrieking Shack and watched Voldemort murder Snape. He went out to him and knelt. Snape’s white wings curled up over him.

  
“Take...them…” he said and Harry hastily gathered the memories. “Look...at….me….” Snape’s eyes closed. Harry stood up, holding the vial. Voldemort announced a cease fire. Harry let out his wings and flew with Hermione and Ron to the castle. He landed on the Astronomy Tower, suppressing memories, and he went to Dumbledore’s office. He watched Snape’s life; falling in love with and losing Lily, hating James, losing Lily for good. He watched Snape join the Death Eaters, and overhear the prophecy. He watched Snape pace in the headmaster’s office.

  
“Listen to me,” Dumbledore's picture said. “When Voldemort starts fearing for the life of his snake--protecting her, keeping her by his side--tell Harry this. Tell him that on the night Voldemort failed to kill him, the spell rebounded and his soul was split. A piece of Voldemort’s soul latched onto Harry--that is why his wings are black.”

  
“Potter has black wings?” Snape asked. Dumbledore nodded and went on to explain that Harry must die. Then Snape cast the silver doe. Then Harry woke up and knew what he had to do.

  
\-----------

  
Harry threw off his invisibility cloak and unveiled his wings at the same time. He flared his wings out wide and stepped into the light. Voldemort’s eyes widened and people gasped from every side, whether it be because Harry and Voldemort had the same wings or because Harry was alive, Harry wasn’t sure.

  
\--------

  
Tom Riddle hit the ground with a mundane finality, his wings shattering into dust. There was a period of silence and then the hall erupted. Harry drew his wings closer to his body and tried to answer questions thrown at him. Luna gave him an escape and Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the hall and Harry told them the whole story.

  
“Everyone knows now,” Hermione said, referring to his wings. “Is that okay?”

  
“Yeah,” Harry said, nodding. “Yeah. It’s better that way.”

  
\-------

  
Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room, ready to pass out and sleep for the next few years.

  
“Harry?” a familiar voice said and he turned. Ginny stood there. It seemed as though she had followed him into the common room.

  
“Yes?” he asked.

  
“I know you’re tired, but…” She trailed off and took a deep breath, then let out her wings. Her big, black, wings. Harry stared at them then smiled. “Dumbledore told me what it means after the Chamber,” she said. “Because he possessed me.”

  
“I was a Horcrux,” he said.

  
“A what?”

  
“I’ll explain later,” he promised. He took a step closer to her. “Who all knows?” She blinked away sudden, rapid, tears.

  
“George and F-fred,” she said. “Now you. Dumbledore knew, too.”

  
“I only ever told Hermione and Ron. Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey saw them too. And now everyone.”

  
“Have you ever met anyone else besides He-Who-Must-Not….besides Voldemort?”

  
“Professor Quirrell in first year.”

  
“The one with Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head?” Harry nodded. They were silent for a minute.

  
“If it makes you feel better, I think your wings are beautiful.” Ginny smiled softly.

  
“Fred and George said something similar.” She paused. “After the joke about me going on a killing spree.”

  
“Well, you know those two.”

  
“Yeah.”

  
“Want to go flying with me?” Harry blurted. He didn’t know where that had come from, and he was exhausted. He half-hoped she’d say no. She looked surprised.

  
“Um,” she said. “Aren’t you tired?”

  
“Yes,” he said. “We can go flying later.”

  
“It’s a date,” she smiled. Harry blinked.

  
“A date?”

  
“I-if you want it to be.”

  
“Yes please,” he said. She threw her arms around him.

  
“Tomorrow?” she asked. He nodded.

  
“Is it too early in the relationship to have a goodnight kiss?” he asked. She leaned back and scrutinized him.

  
“No,” she decided and she kissed him. Harry felt like he could fly. Which he will be doing later, he reflected, smiling as he headed up to bed.


End file.
